30January
1hour yoga over lunch.
85 minutes climbing in the evening. This was another good session. I spent a long time on the overhangs and caves.

1 February
2 hours climbing, on a course. This was brutal.

2 February
16 mile walk with 2,500 feet ascent. Not a bad effort on my part, given I over-slept and started late.

3 February
2 hours climbing. Good session - I got loads of new routes.

4 February
Weights.

• Ab stuff (e.g. hanging leg raises, wide bar pull ups)
• Finger boarding, which I'm not very good at
• Olympic ring stuff, like dips, 360 degree flip thing, and pull ups
• Bench, 55 kgs, 3 sets of 5
• Deadlift, 120 kgs, 1 set of 5
• Facepulls

6 February 2020
75 minutes climb.
A very good session - I have done 90% of the V2/v4s in this gym now. The next grade up is hard ,- I haven't got any yet, but one project feels like it should go soon.

I also got 25000 steps, as I couldn't get into the office in the morning due to a suspectef terrorist car outside it. I went for a walk instead.

7 February
Just over 2 hours climbing.
This was not a bad session. It was my first time at this gym this year. I got most of the v3s I tried. Oddly, I failed on proportionally more v2s . There were two v,2s where I couldn't work out the route at all. They were both towards the end, so I may have just been too tired.

8 February 2020
75 minutes bouldering.
This was miserable. I normally get 75% of the v3s at this gym (Yonder.) I spent most of my time failing off v2s before calling it a day.

Going 4 days in a row may have been a blunder.

13 February
75 minutes bouldering.
I got 3 of the yellow graded climbs, where I've only got 2 in my life before. So yeah buddy!

(These are called v2-v4, but this gym grades way harder than any of the others I've been to.)

I also got 21,000 steps.

I have a date scheduled for closing my PFO, so, Jah willing, I will dive Norway and Scapa this year.

Haha would appear taking a day or two off did wonders! I’m trying to learn this myself, been forcing rest days and it’s helping.

I tend to say yes if anyone asks me if I fancy a climb, and work the logistics out later...

I went on Friday and Saturday as well, and had another two good sessions. I am planning on going on Monday and Tuesday, do I forced myself to take today off.

I went for a swim and lifted weights instead. Interestingly, my hang boarding is getting stronger - I can do 1 arm holds from the too rung; and I can now do ,7 seconds on; 7 seconds off for 7 sets on the middle rung.

17 February 2020
90 minutes climbing.
This was my first VauxWest session in a while. My previous session was pretty poor. This one was pretty good.

• I got 90% of the v2/v3 graded ones I tried
• I got 75% of the v3/v4 graded ones. These are normally where I spend most of my time these days.
• I tried three v4/v5 graded climbs. I got one on the second go - it wasn't too hard, so probably was mis-graded. I got past the crux on another, but fell off on easy move at the top. SO this one will go soon. Another one proved to be lolwat - I couldn't do the start, which looked like one of the easier bits.

This was my first v4/v5 - I normally don't even bother trying them as they are hard.

18 Februay
95 minutes bouldering.
This was my 5th day climbing out of 6, and I lifted on my rest day. But I avoided climbing 4 days in a row.

The session was OK. It started well, then I moved to overhangs and got pumped really quickly. So I finished on slab, and sent a hard V3/v4 project at the end.

I have climbed a lot recently.

I have been on 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th February. Surprisingly, the sessions have generally been OK, although I can get pupped quickly with this volume.

On yesterday' session, I avoided anything hard for the first 40 minutes. (My vague plan was to just do training stuff-style climbing and not to do any projects). After 40 minutes, I forgot my plan and sent all the v3s/v4s I tried, which was 4 or 5 new routes.

I got back from holiday on Monday, after 27 hours' travelling. I had a theory that climbing would be a good way to recover from jetlag. I may have been wrong.

I went climbing yesterday as well to further test my theory. It was one of my worst sessions for quite a while - I got pumped very quickly.

Mental fatigue seems to affect my climbing more than physical fatigue will unless my forearms are wrecked. I've had other climbers say similar things. I'm not sure what is going on there.

BTW, I bought the book Make or Break. Thanks for recommending that in one of the other threads. It has been a very good read so far. I've definitely learned a few things.

I read or saw somewhere that grip strength deterioration is one of the symptoms of fatigue. A quick Google shows there does seem to be academic research backing this up. So it makes sense that climbing suffers a lot from fatigue.

I lifted weights on Wednesday. Nothing of note, as it was my first session in a while. My hang boarding seems to be improving.

I climbed yesterday. It was a really fun session. I didn't get anything very hard - maybe V3 max. But I got a lot of routes, including many which were beyond me last time. I got a few dyno moves, which are normally a weak point for me. One of these was slightly terrifying - it was onto a small crimp at the top of the wall. My brother got it statically, but it seemed too far for me to reach - he is taller than me.

15 March 2020
15 mile hike. It was very, very muddy and rained the whole time.

It was very nice getting outside, though. I saw pretty much no-one else at all on the walk.

17 March 2020
Lifted weights in my shed.

This went pretty poorly. Everything was weak (hangboarding; random ring stuff like dips; bench; squat).

Oh well, I have plenty of time to practice now...

19 March
5k on the c2, in 2.16 pace. This felt OK, my first time towing in ages.

In other news, a colleague I saw on Friday has CV. He is recovering.

I probably need to self isolate for 1 more week.

20 March
Lifted. It was fun, a lot better than the previous session.

I can get 3 fingered open drag hold on the middle rung for a reasonable number of seconds . Benching was good, dips were good, squatting was a bit meh.

In worrying news, my little brother may have CV. He works at a hospital, so has high exposure.

Dang man hope your bro is ok!

The UK strategy vs CV was nuts to me. Glad it was corrected, hopefully before it got too out of control.

He seems fine, fortunately.

Our initial response was insane. I suspect the NHS will be overwhelmed soon as a result. My PFO closure us still not officially delayed, but I am minded to cancel anyway. (,It seems unfair for me to burden health services unnecessarily.)

I did another 5k on the C2 and beat my previous PB by 6 seconds. Pace 2.15, so still pretty slow. I may restart the Pete beginner plan.

Yesterday, I did 4 hours gardening. I destroyed a lot of things, and got 15,000 steps in. I did an hour yoga afterwards

I am finding eating enough food hard now shops have nothing. I am down to 138 pounds.

I bought a stay at home get strong for climbing programme. I did Day 1 today, which was hangboarding. It took hours, and included:

Dynamic stretches
Burpees
Band stretches
Light pull ups
Light hangboarding
Heavy hangboarding
Finger curls
Max effort pull ups
Core work
Yogic stretching

I managed a short half crimp hang on the 15mm rung for the first time.

I other news, I am definitely getting too skinny. I am 138 pounds. I don't own any food, so I can't bulk.

I am self isolating, as I met with someone symptomatic. None of the shops I have tried do online grocery delivery at the moment (Waitrose, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Aldi, Amazon, and numerous local suppliers have failed.) I shouldn't really go to a physical shop, but they all have nothing at all in so it doesn't really make much difference.

I seem to be ****ed.

My self quarantine ended, and the shops had fresh food again. It was a glorious thing.

The finger strength programme is 6 days a week. I did days 2 to 6 successfully, so I'll redo Day 1 today.

Each day takes the form:

• Dynamic stretches
• Band stretches
• Quick cardio e.g. burpees or rowing sprints
• Strength stuff
• Core stuff
• Yoga

A session is typically 2 to 2.5 hours.

The days are as follows:

1. Fingers
2. Arms and chest
3. Legs
4. Fingers
5. Pull-ups
6. Rings

I tried climbing from one side to the other of the underside my kitchen table, but it's like a V10 (and very weak and unstable). So I abandoned the effort.

I did hangboarding yesterday. I ended up with a forearm pump, so when I got onto the pull-up session it was lolwhatno. I tried, but could only get 6 by bodyweight ones. My max is around 14.

Today was bench, row, OHP, dips and core stuff. It all went well other than to the dips. I need to do a these on rings, which I find harder than fixed bars . But still, it was a poor effort.

I can now half-crimp for 7 seconds off the 15mm rung, so I am slowly getting stronger fingers.

Yesterday was leg day. It took just under 3 hours.
Dynamic stretches; band stuff; Burpees; barbell squat; deadlift; single leg deadlift; lunges; pistols; core gubbins; and finally a bit of yoga.

I am taking it easy on the programme, so the weights I lifted are still low (60 kgs squat; 90 kgs deadlift). The main lifts were 5 sets of 5.

Today is hangboarding.

I have found a climb! It is the main bedroom to spare bedroom traverse - probably V2/V3. The radiator is out of bounds as a hold....